Slow loading websites.

Hi all,
I'm at a loss as to why both Firefox3 and IE6 are intermittently slow loading pages.
I've done a tracert to a site I use everyday (I've only done the tracerts after 4pm, and not before. I will do one before 4pm to make sure that my line isn't being throttled).
My ISP is Pipex. My local exchange is in Yeovil. I live approx 630m from the main exchange.
This is one of the tracerts I've done (same hop causes the slow down).

Tracing route to blighty-renegades.co.uk [88.208.222.6]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 17 ms 16 ms 17 ms 62.241.160.179
3 18 ms 17 ms 16 ms 62.241.167.121
4 17 ms 16 ms 17 ms po3-102.cr05.hx2.bb.gxn.net [62.72.139.21]
5 21 ms 20 ms 19 ms vl3953.cr05.tn5.bb.gxn.net [62.72.137.29]
6 18 ms 17 ms 17 ms telewest-pipex-pvtpeer.telewest.net [194.117.147
.37]
7 166 ms 210 ms 26 ms usgw-tele2.telewest.net [194.117.136.198]
8 25 ms 26 ms 25 ms 194.117.136.173
9 21 ms 21 ms 22 ms azt-tele1-pos.telewest.net [194.117.136.1]
10 22 ms 22 ms 23 ms 195.188.230.25
11 21 ms 21 ms 21 ms 195.188.230.74
12 21 ms 22 ms 20 ms 82.33.208.14
13 21 ms 31 ms 22 ms pc3.prt0.fhcon.fasthosts.net.uk [88.208.255.2]
14 21 ms 23 ms 23 ms pc1.hrt0.fhcon.fasthosts.net.uk [88.208.255.14]

15 22 ms 21 ms 24 ms michael.pacwebhostingservers.com [88.208.222.6]

As you can see Hop number 7 is causing a slow down. It has been worse than that. Could the exchange there have problems?

I'm using my end Windows XP Pro + SP3. Aslo using a Realtek RTL8169/8110 Family gigbit pci network card. I'm using at this time a USR SureConnect 9105 router/modem with the latest firmware update. I'm using this as I have lent out my Thomson Speedtouch 546 v6 ADSL+2 modem/router. I have the same problem when using either unit.
Forunately my USR has diagnostic software and here are the results.

Mode: G.DMT
Type: Fast
Line Coding: Trellis On
Status: No Defect

Total ES: 1074
Total SES: 0
Total UAS: 24

Downstream Upstream
SNR Margin (dB): 11.6 23.0
Attenuation (dB): 20.0 11.0
Output Power (dBm): 11.9 19.7
Attainable Rate (Kbps): 9696 1096
Rate (Kbps): 8128 448
K (number of bytes in DMT frame): 255 15
R (number of check bytes in RS code word): 0 0
S (RS code word size in DMT frame): 1 1
D (interleaver depth): 1 1

Super Frames: 4311477 4311475
Super Frame Errors: 1079 62
RS Words: 0 0
RS Correctable Errors: 0 0
RS Uncorrectable Errors: 0 N/A
HEC Errors: 873 22
OCD Errors: 0 0
LCD Errors: 0 0
ES Errors 0 0

As I have lttile knowledge of those numbers, I'm hoping someone else does.
I must add that this has been happening since Tiscali bought out Pipex user database (November I think). But the Yeovil exchange is not using LLU. So I haven't been transferred onto that system.
Any thoughts would be appreciated,
regards,
Tony

the router at hop 7 might be slow to respond to pings (perhaps it is busy routing !) but as the subsequent pings are not affected then it can't be a bottleneck.

What the tracert suggests is that Telewest may have a congested link in its network (Telewest is really Virgin Media these days).

This is nothing to do with your ADSL or a telephone exchange, but the internet and its myriad of interlinks.

This Tracert was done at 04:17 this morning;
1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 63 ms 17 ms 17 ms 62.241.160.179
3 17 ms 16 ms 16 ms 62.241.167.121
4 16 ms 16 ms 17 ms po3-102.cr05.hx2.bb.gxn.net [62.72.139.21]
5 17 ms 16 ms 16 ms vl3953.cr05.tn5.bb.gxn.net [62.72.137.29]
6 125 ms 17 ms 25 ms telewest-pipex-pvtpeer.telewest.net [194.117.147
.37]
7 21 ms 21 ms 20 ms usgw-tele2.telewest.net [194.117.136.198]
8 21 ms 20 ms 20 ms 194.117.136.173
9 21 ms 21 ms 21 ms azt-tele1-pos.telewest.net [194.117.136.1]
10 21 ms 21 ms 22 ms 195.188.230.25
11 21 ms 21 ms 20 ms 195.188.230.74
12 20 ms 21 ms 22 ms 82.33.208.14
13 20 ms 21 ms 21 ms pc3.prt0.fhcon.fasthosts.net.uk [88.208.255.2]
14 21 ms 20 ms 21 ms pc1.hrt0.fhcon.fasthosts.net.uk [88.208.255.14]

15 21 ms 21 ms 20 ms michael.pacwebhostingservers.com [88.208.222.6]


Trace complete.

Bit earlier than 4pm, but then I have insomnia at the mo. Will do another later on today.
If that ones comes back the same and tells me it's Telewest/Virgin? Can I do anything to help in the remedy? Maybe ring Pipex and notify them of the problem?
regards,
Tony

the tracert does not show a problem. You get 20ms pings to the target site.

A couple of the routers are a bit variable in responding to pings, but this doesn't necessarily mean they are impeding traffic. It might be the web server, for example.

You could ring Pipex but it will probably just result in nothing happening.

Can you post the results of a ping to that site, please?